Moon, Jupiter, Mars strut their stuff tonight

Cast a glance upward at the moon tonight. That big, bright object just a few degrees to its south is the planet Jupiter. The two will be sky buddies the next couple evenings. Through binoculars the 6-day-old moon will reveal … Continue reading →

The half moon glides by brilliant Jupiter the next two nights. Map created with Stellarium
Cast a glance upward at the moon tonight. That big, bright object just a few degrees to its south is the planet Jupiter. The two will be sky buddies the next couple evenings.
Through binoculars the 6-day-old moon will reveal a variety of crisp-edged craters along the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night. Most prominent tonight is a remarkable chain of impact craters – Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina.
Theophilus is named after an ancient Greek geographer and measures 68 miles across. It fairly fresh as lunar craters go, with a sharp-edged rim and a couple of distinctive central mountain peaks. Theophilus overlaps the much older Cyrillus, which is 61 miles across and named for a 4th century theologian.
One of the best known features on the moon is the Theophilus crater chain. Watch for it tonight in a small ...